and make catastrophic cuts to education. so remember what romney said... and what his plan would do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. super storm sandy moves in and leaves widespread damage and millions in the dark this morning. and breaking news. as if storm damage wasn't enough, look at this. new york city firefighters battling a massive fire, new overnight. good morning, everyone. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this tuesday, october 30th, 2012. >> we are keeping a close eye on sandy. right now the storm being blamed for at least 16 deaths, including one in anne arundel county and one in montgomery county, maryland. more than 6 million homes and

businesses in the dark. nyu's tisch hospital evacuated last night because of a power outage. doctors and nurses started with the sickest and the youngest, loading them into ambulances. that includes 20 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. some on respirators operating under battery power. and if the power outages weren't enough, a 13-foot wave of sea water flooded manhattan. coastal communities reporting severe flooding. and sandy being blamed for this burst of snowfall in west virginia. right now utility crews are starting to restore power to more than 100,000 area residents in the dark right now. pepco tweeted this morning that its crews are on the road. right now dominion has the most outages in our area, more than 115,000. bge says more than 74,000 area residents are in the dark and more than 60,000 of them are in anne arundel county.

smeco looking to restore power to 6,200 customers. the federal government closed again today for all nonessential personnel and closed to the public obviously. metro rail and bus service also suspended until this afternoon. metro plans to reassess the situation this morning. marc, vre, and amtrak service along the northeast corridor suspended today as well. and flights out of dulles and reagan national airports cancelled until further notice. and lots the students enjoying another day off. most major public school systems in d.c., maryland, and virginia are closed this morning. a complete list of closures running at the bottom of your screen. i know a lot of parents are saying, okay, when can we get the kids back to school? we haven't even had a snowflake yet. >> the kids are probably thinking the same thing. oh, mom, i've got to deal with you again. tom kierein with the forecast. still dealing with the lingering effects of sandy. many creeks and streams are out

of their banks. watch on the rural roads, if you come up on high water, do not attempt to drive through it. all as a result of the big rains that have thankfully diminished from sandy. yesterday we got four to eight inches of rain. parts of west virginia had 16 inches of that wet snow. right now around the metro area, we're getting pockets of moderate rain, northern virginia into maryland, montgomery county, now into prince george's, charles. these areas in yellow and orange getting pockets of rain. from prince william, fauquier, as well as loudoun and frederick county. occasional passing moderate showers through the day. a chilly morning. we're in the 40s from the beaches all the way to the mountains and the higher elevations where it's snowing, it's near freezing. current wind gusts 20 to 25 miles an hour. gradually diminishing. still peak gusts near 40 in the mountains. through the rest of the day, hour by hour, diminishing winds will be holding steady in the 40s throughout the rest of the day.

i'll be back in ten minutes with another update. first 4 traffic with danella. good morning. >> good morning, tom. still checking on problems in our area. traveling in virginia in lorton, downed tree closes lorton road at hill road. what you're facing is a closure between church street and pennsylvania avenue due to flooding. heading over to montgomery county in silver spring, taking 29. high standing water shuts 29 from lock wood drive all the way to university boulevard in both directions. you have to use caution if you're heading out of the house. back over to you both. >> danella, thank you. >> news 4's angie goff at the live desk with new information we've learned overnight. angie? >> good morning, aaron. in anne arundel county, a man is dead after a tree crashes into his house. the pasadena man reportedly in his 70s died after being trapped in his home by that falling tree. it happened near suet and wall

drive. firefighters found the man inside, dead from injuries believed to be suffered when the tree hit the house. it is maryland's second storm related death. on monday a woman died in a car accident in germantown. at the live desk, angie goff, news 4. breaking news now. you may have heard of one or two alarm fires. take a look at these images. this is a massive six alarm fire in queens, new york. we've learned the fire now involves at least 50 homes. the fire broke out last night at 11:00. firefighters say the homes are in a flood zone area. 170 firefighters are on the scene dealing with the tough conditions from sandy. two people suffered minor injuries. no word on cause of that fire. more breaking news, this time in connecticut. another major fire. take a look at this one. a late night fire destroyed at least two homes in old saybrook, connecticut. firefighters having trouble get to go that house because the area is flooded. they tried to check to see if anybody was in one of those homes using a retired army

truck. they had to stop, though, because the high water caused electrical problems. that area is under a mandatory evacuation order right now. also right now, large parts of lower manhattan under water. this is fdr drive. and an explosion at the con ed substation. that left 150,000 people without power. and now more than 250 patients at a new york city hospital are being moved to other facilities. the backup generator failed. dozens of ambulances rushed to new york university's tisch hospital. those patients included 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit. at this point, as we understand, everyone is doing okay. >> sandy is being plamd for five deaths in new york state, two of those victims are young boys. the 11 and 13-year-old boys died

when a tree struck their home in westchester county. a 15-year-old and 20-year-old were also in the home but not seriously hurt. d.c. mayor vincent gray plans to drive around the city today with the coast guard to assess the damage. >> he is likely to see a lot of trees down. news 4's megan mcgrath is live in cathedral with a look at the damage there. >> reporter: we have changed our location since we last spoke to you. we are down on cathedral avenue. we have a large tree that has fallen completely across the roadway. no traffic getting through. it's a big tree. going to take a little work to get out of here this morning. we're seeing pockets of damage. trees falling across roadways. smashed cars. take a look at this video. this was shot over in nebraska near nevada. a huge tree came tumbling down. actually fell between two houses.

take a look at that root ball. just absolutely enormous. the ground very catch rated, very wet. a lot of trees came tumbling down in that storm. if you're out and about, be aware, you may have to detour because of closed streets. megan mcgrath, news 4. back to you guys in the studio. that fast moving water that caused an evacuation on the jersey shore. ike leggett: gaming generated one hundred and eighty...

million dollars for maryland schools. question seven will double it. rushern baker: question seven will add table games and... a new casino, generating millions of dollars... every year, without raising taxes. leggett: and audits will ensure the money goes... where it's supposed to. more jobs, and millions for schools. baker: question seven will be good for our kids... our teachers, and our schools. leggett: keep maryland money in maryland. baker: please vote for question seven. leggett: vote for question seven. what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes.

and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

"and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. we received hundreds of voters from viewers who shares their pictures from the storm. thanks for sharing them here. you can see the effects of the storm in maryland. the entire street is flooded in maryland. and one viewer got a shot of their trampoline flying through the air. che send us your pictures at ic@nbcwashington.com. >> a lot of incredible images to be captured out there.

we'll see as the day progresses. right now we want to see what the weather looks like at this hour. peak winds around 80 miles an hour around parts of our region. they've greatly diminished. we're still getting rain and snow. getting passing moderate showers around the metro area and northern virginia and maryland. they'll be with us into the afternoon with a chill in the air. from the beaches all the way into the mountains, higher elevations above 2,000 feet have the snow, and it's freezing there. hour by hour throughout the day, gusts will diminish throughout the afternoon. highs only in the mid-40s. rain tapering off later on tonight. i'll be back with the seven day outlook in ten minutes. your first 4 traffic this tuesday morninwith danella. >> good morning. still checking on local roads, finding flooding and downed trees. let's start in maryland. debris blocking 355. this is at 124 montgomery village avenue. all your lanes blocked in that area.

heading over to flooding in virginia, brownsville road is closed right now. at windstone drive due to high standing water. if you're traveling along the dulles toll road, checking things out there. besides wet conditions, not seeing any reports of any incidents to warn you about. i'm back in ten. aaron and eun, back over to you. it is 5:13. 43 degrees. what caused this blast coming up?

welcome back at 5:16.

we're going to take you live to rhode island, where you can see the flooded streets. and the cleanup from the damage is going to be intense. it will take several days, if not weeks, to get out from under all the water. we want to go to new jersey, where conditions may be even worse. sandy pounded the jersey shore. nbc's danielle leigh live in cape may, new jersey, on the southern tip of that state. danielle, what's the situation there? >> reporter: good morning. this morning we are getting hit with heavy winds. sometimes it's hard to stand. and just a light rain. when he was in the hotel room getting ready. i was pretty sure we were going to lose some windows. they were clanking so hard. that is good news. we are doing a lot better than a lot of parts of cape may and a lot of parts of coastal, new jersey. if you take a look at video we have of damage across the jersey shore, especially in atlantic city, where parts of that famous boardwalk were destroyed, where people staying in a shelter lost

power and had to be evacuated. we're talking about significant damage. across the northeast, people waking up without water. more than 7 million people without power because of the damage from this storm. we're hearing that over a dozen people have been killed from this storm. the sun hasn't even risen yet. hearing off in the distance, the sound of this wind just blows and blows. more and more damage. we're going to see that when the sun comes up. really starting to get more damage. this storm cost $10 billion to $20 billion in damage. that could make it the costliest in u.s. history. when you look at the airports and the amount of flights. more than 10,000 flights cancelled. we're talking about a very large effect because of this one super storm. reporting live in cape may, new jersey. i'm danielle leigh. back to you. the race for the white house is taking a backseat to sandy. president obama and mitt romney

have cancelled campaign events out of respect for storm victims. the president returned to washington yesterday to oversee the government's response to the super storm. he said he's more concerned about sandy's impact right now than about next week's election. mitt romney is also'skrai scrap his campaign events. they'll hold storm relief events instead. their campaign is not saying what those events involve. yesterday romney asked supporters at his rallies to donate to the red cross. and many area residents not able to vote because of what happened with sandy. governor martin o'malley ordered early voting in the state to close for a second day. the d.c. board of elections postponed voting in the dribllingt as well. some new video this morning. want to take a look at this dramatic video of a power substation explosion. you see it right there in new york city. you can see what appears to be two blasts at the con edison

substation in lower manhattan. that's the power company there in new york. this actually knocked out power for about 20 blocks around. even the con edison offices were running on generators as a result of this. in all, more than 230,000 people in manhattan have no electricity at this hour. con ed says this is one of the five largest blackouts ever in new york city, and the largest ever caused by a storm. a construction crane in new york city was no match for sandy's strong winds. check this out, a crane snapped over like a toothpick and is dangling there. crews say it's too difficult to try to remove it. wind gusts at the top of the building may have been close to 95 miles an hour at the time of the collapse. you didn't want to be anywhere near that crane. 5:20 is our time. high winds toppled trees all over the area. news 4's darcy spencer complains

just one tree in oxon hill caused a lot of damage. all right. looks like we may have a little trouble with that piece of tape. >> reporter: they've been telling us to expect a lot of damage with this storm. this is exactly what they're talking about. a large tree fell onto what we were told is nine vehicles in this apartment complex parking lot. this is south view drive in oxon hill, very large apartment complex. residents told me they had seen this tree waving back and forth. some folks had moved their cars earlier in the evening because they were concerned that tree might fall down. that's exactly what it did, causing extensive damage. you can see the tree limb is roit on the roof. she said she was asleep when the tree fell, but someone told her your car has been destroyed. >> it sounded like the dumpster moved. >> it was a boom? is >> it was a large boom, and it sounded like something scraping. by the time i got up to open the

window, that's when i noticed the tree on the cars. >> came down with a gust of wind and took the roof and the hood out of my car. >> reporter: what impact is this going to have for you? you need your car. >> i need to go to work, have bills to pay. it's really important. it's a necessity. >> reporter: and this is the root system of that large tree that fell. you can see the trajectory where it fell straight down into the parking lot area. the woman we talked to says she does have insurance on her vehicle. so she feels pretty good it's going to be taken care of. let's hope those other owners have insurance as well. >> storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. has sandy moved out of this area at least, tom? >> no. >> no? >> no. she has weakened. it's going to be hanging around here through today, tonight, and part of tomorrow. it's very slow moving. after it rapidly ce ashore in southern new jersey yesterday afternoon, and now it stalled

out. you can see the center of circulation kind of spinning around here in the maryland and pennsylvania board. looks like frederick around route 15. that's the center. we're south of the center and still getting passing showers. this time they're coming in from the west. rather yesterday they were coming in from the east. now they're coming in from the west. and it's also drawing in very cold air, and it is snowing, west virginia, eastern kentucky into ohio. a few of the locations there, some of the high spots have had 16 inches of snow. heavy wet snow, and locally here we are still dealing with passing showers. they'll be with us from time to time for the rest of the morning. these areas of yellow and orange, where it got a little bit harder. just moderate showers. most of the areas in green, this is light rain thankfully. we're still going to be dealing with passing showers all the way into the afternoon. if you do plan on heading out, you'll definitely need the umbrella. it is chilly. only in the low to mid-40s from the atlantic beaches all the way into the mountains in the low

levels. up in the ridges, anywhere near 2,000 feet they're getting that snow. that is going to continue through the rest of the day. here are the current wind gusts. thankfully, they have really diminished. we had gusts to nearly 80 miles an hour in many locations yesterday. that was in the evening hours between 9:00 and 11:00 last evening. that's when we had the tree damage. now, thankfully, look at the winds. they have really diminished. flood warnings until later this morning through much of the northern virginia, all of maryland, the district of columbia. creeks and streams are high or out of their banks. watch out for that high water after those four to eight inches of rain. we do have a blizzard warning through the rest of the day today. all these counties in orange. this is all in eastern west virginia, western maryland. that snow is going to continue today. most locations have had about six inches, and maybe pile up another five, six inches on top

of that. and then the rain diminishes tonight, and then tomorrow some sun coming back. highs mid-50s for halloween trick or treaters, should be good tomorrow night. on thursday, friday, little sun. highs 50s into the weekend. chilly morning. maybe a shower monday morning. i'm back in ten minutes. how's traffic now, danella? still seeing problems in our area as far as downed trees, high standing water, especially on the local roads. first let's start in virginia. braddock road close the at franconia road due to a downed tree. 198 at old gun powder road, all your lanes are blocked due to a downed power line. be careful. interstates look good. i-95 between 295 in maryland between the baltimore beltway and capitol beltway, not seeing any accidents. very light volume. you can see the travel lanes lanes open and clear. taking the rails not an option. keep in mind metro, marc, vre,

metro bus, they've cancelled service for the day. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. 5:25. 43 degrees. new york city being punished by sandy. more information on flooding, power outages, and more. anncr: which do you believe?

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade?

yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

trees and power lines in our area are down. we'll tell you when power crews are expected to hit the streets. and firefighters in queens battling a major fire, including a dozen homes. more on those stories throughout the morning. first, good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome back to "news 4 today." it is tuesday, october 30th. right now sandy is blamed for the aleast 16 deaths, including one in anne arundel county and one in montgomery county. more than 200,000 customers in our area in the dark because of sandy. most of those power outages in anne arundel county and northern virginia. the federal government is closed today for all nonessential personnel. metro rail and bus service also suspended again today, maybe

until this afternoon. metro will reassess the situation this morning. lots of schools in this area are closed this morning as well. a complete list scrolling at the bottom of your screen and online at nbcwashington.com. it's 5:30. let's take a live look outside. you can see the flag whipping in the wind, and it's still raining out there. sandy is not done with us yet. >> storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein taking a look. yesterday we had wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour. the wind is not coming as hard, but it is still raining from maryland, virginia, all the way up to maine. it is still snowing in west virgin virginia. this storm has huge effects. there are 25-foot waves on lake michigan. it is affecting a huge area this

morning. we are locally getting a few passing and moderate showers. these are coming in from the northwest and heading east. unlike yesterday, they're sweeping in from the east. passing moderate showers, northern virginia, the district, and much of maryland. temperatures are chilly. we're low to mid-40s most of the region. we're going to stay in the 40s throughout the rest of the day today. higher ridges are near freezing where they're getting that snow. winds generally gusting around 25 to 30. those are the peak gusts now. they have greatly diminished. that's going to stay a little bit gusty throughout the rest of the day. hour by hour, we'll have the crane activity off and on. sunrise 7:34. the sunset at 6:09. this rain may continue into the evening off and on as well. most of the flooding is over. i'll be back in ten minutes. danella here now with a look at traffic. >> good morning. tom, i'm tracking your situation. if you're traveling in silver spring taking new hampshire avenue, heading northbound. the right exit ramp to the beltway, that's blocked by high standing water in that area. if you're taking the beltway,

it's nice and clear. checking cameras in maryland and virginia, no issues around the beltway. also looking good on 395, here's a live look at duke street. very light volume, very wet, though. not only are you facing slick road conditions, on the local roads, debris as well. i would recommend staying in until the sun rises. >> news 4's angie goff the at the live desk with breaking news. new video of that massive fire ripping through a neighborhood in queens, new york. more than 50 homes completely engulfed by this six alarm blaze. this thing is a monster. we've got almost 200 firefighters out there battling the flames that you see are far and widespread. in the last hour, we have learned from emergency responders that little to no water pressure in the hydrants are causing a big problem, along with all the flooding. the homes are in a flood zone area. we know that the national guard and army is on scene to help. as for the cause of the fire,

that is still a big unknown. at the live desk, angie goff, news 4. some emergency shelters were not enough protection for people in atlantic city, new jersey. about 20 people had to be rescued from showers after the power went out. new jersey governor chris christie said he is sfointed with atlantic city mayor for disregarding evacuation orders. sandy even took out part of atlantic city's famed boardwalk. many along the coast battered by sandy are waking up to a massive cleanup effort. erica gonzalez is live in rehoboth beach with more. erica, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, eun. good morning. it's a very different morning for us today. i don't know what to tell you which was worse. yesterday we were getting slapped around by the wind and by the rain, but we were in the 50s.

although we had gusts of 45, 50 miles an hour, with the rain and the sand, it felt awful. this morning it is blistering cold out here. i've got on gloves. when someone tells you to pack for a hurricane, you don't think of packing long johns and ear mu muffs. it is freezing out here. i want you to take a look. irene was easy. bring on sandy. minimal damage on rehoboth avenue and even along the boardwalk. you're seeing some debris, sandbags here. honestly, this town, this city was expecting a whole lot worse. i think a lot of people were. a lot of people waking up this morning very, very thankful for the things that have gone on in the course of the last 24 hours, at least here for us locally. new york, new jersey, a very different story. more than eight inches of rain here in rehoboth. more than 6,000 power outages and still a driving ban in

effect. but this morning, again, with that driving ban, businesses as well are not going to be open until after the 4:30 hour. still a very cold, very light drizzly morning here in rehoboth. how are you holding up? >> we're fine. especially compared to you. you guys have been working overtime in in rehoboth. thakds to you guys on team rehoboth. we'll see you in a bit. the wind may be dying down, but hundreds of thousands of people in our area still in the dark. more than 100,000 in northern virginia. dominion virginia power working to restore electricity to 109,000 customers right now. that is down 10,000 or so customers since we started this morning. and pepco says about 25,000 of its customers without electricity. bge has 70,000 outages in our area, about 60,000 in anne arundel county. smeco reporting more than 3,400 customers in the dark. news 4's melissa mollet is

live from alexandria where there are no lights to be found. >> reporter: we're at commonwealth and myrtle in alexandria. the only lights we're seeing now, guys, the lights from our camera, the lights on our live truck, and a couple of people driving down the street. the entire neighborhood is dark. a couple of trees down here. who knows what caused the power outage. take a look at this tree. as we kind of widen out a little bit, you can see how massive this thing is. 4 1/2 feet tall here, and just across this section of someone's yard. folks in that house very, very lucky that this tree did not fall that way. if we can safely cross the road, we're going to go over this way and just show you there's another tree over here that came down sometime last night. you can see that some of these tries have been cut up and sort of moved out of the way. all kinds of debris here still on the road that folks have come by and kind of moved out of the way. again, this is something that is

happening in lots of neighborhoods in the area no matter if you're in d.c. or maryland or virginia. this is a similar scene. we have hundreds of thousands of people still without power. who knows if the winds might kick up a little bit later. the rain has been pretty steady. it is colder, i would say, right now than it was 24 hours ago for sure. people here definitely with their fingers crossed once they wake up this morning and see what has happened, thankful the tree has not fallen on their houses but also, i'm sure, hoping the power comes back on soon. live in alexandria, virginia, melissa mollet, news 4. >> the worst of the storm came after it got dark last night. people are going to wake up and go outside and see pretty rough stuff out there. >> that's why we're telling people to stay off the roads. it's so dark. trees could be down, power lines. itted can be dangerous.

>> we do have reportered all over the area this morning. cupping up, a look at the hardest hit parts of d.c. teacher: this is west virginia, pennsylvania, delaware.

and. every year marylanders spend five hundred and fifty million gaming at casinos in these other states. question seven will build a new casino and bring

table games to baltimore... generating hundreds of millions for schools. and that money has to go to education. it's the law. so vote for question seven. so we can stop spending all that money here, and keep maryland money in classrooms like mine. [monotone] she says, "switch to progressive and you could save hundreds." call or click today.

these are pictures of the old guard at they stood watch at arlington national cemetery. members of the infantry regimen keep watch 24 hours a day regardless of the weather. >> that's dedication. >> it's amazing to watch. i had an opportunity to see behind the scenes how that all happens, and it is one of the most revered ceremonies and traditions they have at arlington. >> their dedication is remarkable through all kinds of weather, through snowmageddon, daresho, all of it. >> it seems like for a week or so now, tom, you've been telling us about sandy.

>> we started warning about it a week ago. look at wise county, virginia. this is a live picture. looks like they've got snow covered roads here, mid-winter, not even halloween yet and a couple of inches of snow on the ground. the higher elevations, some locations with well over 6 inches and a few of the high spots, 16 inches of that heavy wet snow. and the storm team 4 radar showing that snow in southwestern virginia where wise county is. and the heaviest snow in west virginia. just south of huntington, west virginia, they're getting heavy snow now. locally getting rain. passing to moderate to light showers around maryland, virginia, and the district right now. it's chilly, low to mid-40s all around the region. we're going to stay in the 40s through the rest of the day. winds gradually diminishing. 30 to 40 mile an hour gusts. lower elevations, maybe 20 to 30

mile an hour gusts. those will diminish by late afternoon. i'll be back in ten minutes with your storm team 4 seven-day outlook. a look at traffic with danella. good morning. >> many ggood morning, tom. checking your early morning accident, have report of an accident on i-95. let's move over and talk about downed trees. if you're traveling along route 649, hunter road, closed at little river turnpike due to the downed tree in that area. heading over to ashton in maryland, mink hollow road closed because of debris in the roadway. again, we light volume. i'm back in ten. aaron and eun, back over to you. 5:43, 43 degrees. two deaths blamed on sandy in maryland. [ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney

would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

athat's what the plan georged allen supports... [ romney ] i'm mitt romney would cost our economy. newspapers called it "economically destructive." like allen's votes to give tax breaks to companies... that ship jobs overseas, his economic plan would...

help big corporations, devastating the middle class. allen even voted against tax breaks for small businesses. virginia can't afford to go back to george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee... is responsible for the content of this advertising.

right now sandy is blamed for at least 16 deaths, including one in montgomery county and one in anne arundel county. nyu's tisch hospital was evacuated last night because of a power outage. doctors and nurses started with the sickest and youngest, including 20 babies from neonatal intensive care. as if power outages aren't bad enough, a 16-foot surge flooded seawater in lower manhattan. sandy is also being blamed for a burst of snow in west virginia. today many area residents will begin cleaning up from the mess sandy left behind. laurel residents will have quite a cleanup ahead of them. news 4's tony tull with more on that. tony, good morning.

>> i think a lot of people throughout the region are going to start trying to make cleanup plans after sandy calms down. just the past half hour to 45 minutes, we're in laurel. quite the downpour pickup, a little bit of wind, more than what we had earlier this morning. take a look behind me. you can see the stump tower is well over me, and i'm 6'3". i went over to that tree earlier, and it is enormous. another thing i want to mention, we were driving around checking out downed trees. there are a lot of downed power lines as you head through prince george's county area and the montgomery county area and through laurel. as you're heading out this morning, if you have to go out, be caution. there are a lot of downed power lines and a lot of downed cables. a lot of power companies are

starting to get out and assess the damage and starting to make repairs. just make sure, if you head out this morning, you watch out for things of this sort. aaron and eun, a lot of people making cleanup plans. >> tony, thank you. d.c. mayor vincent gray will drive around the city with the coast guard to assess the damage. this is what he'll likely see. large trees down all over the place. this tree crashed at the intersection of nebraska and nevada avenues. two people were home at that time. they were not hurt. megan mcgrath is now live along childen street in northwest d.c. with the road closure. megan, what's going on there? >> reporter: eun, we keep moving around this morning to give you anned why of exactly what things look like this morning. we're here at beach drive and tilden street. take a look at the closure. a situation with high standing water just a little down the road. they have closed off beach drive

in both directions here at tilden. you're not going to be able to take it, not until the water goes down. take a look at rock creek. this is the problem. you can see how high it is and just how swift the water is running here this morning as a result of all of that rain we got during sandy. it's going to take a little while for it to return back to normal. we probably also have some debris down the line as well. a lot of old trees here. we had a lot of high wind, and so they've closed down the street. that's going to be the case for a lot of commuters this morning. this is not the only street that's closed. there is debris. we have trees that have fallen and a lot of issues with those road closures. take a look at this video. this was shot at 16th street early this morning. a couple of trees that came crashing down across that roadway. crews came in and cleared it up. happy to report that 16th street has reopened. as you make your way in, you might find some areas, take a little unexpected detour, and give yourself a little extra time. reporting live from northwest,

megan mcgrath, news 4. back to you. and the alexandria community of huntington is seeing flooding issues as well. fairfax county firefighters told residents on fenwick drive and arlington terrace they needed to leave. some heeded that warning. others decided to stay. >> with the sump pumps and the back flow preventers and everything else this whole neighborhood has done, we feel a little better this time we're more protected. >> i just went through this a year ago. it's been one year, and here we are again, hurricane sandy. basically super flooding. >> most residents went to the emergency shelter set up by the lee district rec center. we're expected to find out today if those homes sustained any damage. >> feeling so bad for some of the folks in these neighborhoods prone to flooding. just feel like they've cleaned up from the derecho, and now they're flooded again. >> it's hard to see those people go through it over and over again. >> and cleaning up water damage,

nothing like it. feel like you never get dry enough. >> many to, we'll start clean up once the weather clears out. when's that going to happen? sandy came ashore in southern new jersey yesterday, and sips then it's a proeft tropical low that's drifting off to the northwest. now it's sort of drifting west, but it's spreading a lot of snow in west virginia, southwest virginia, eastern kentucky, and michigan. some locations in west virginia have had 16 inches of heavy, wet snow. can you imagine that? just incredible. still blowing out there. now luckily rain in most of virginia, maryland, the district. the rain is moderate in these areas of yellow in parts of our southern and eastern suburbs and north and west of washington. just mostly steady, light to moderate rain going to be with us here throughout the rest of the day with a chill in the air. in fact, it's only in the low

and mid-40s now around most of the region. we're going to stay in the 40s. winds have greatly diminished. we have peak gusts to nearly 80 miles an hour between 9:00 and 11:00 last night. now the peak gusts are in the 20s most of the region. and we had four to eight inches of rain. we still have flooding. all these counties in green, creeks and streams. and the blizzard warning still in effect out of the mountains for maybe an additional s6 inchs for a total of 12 in most locations. hour by hour, temperatures holding steady in the 40s and winds diminishing the in afternoon. storm team 4 forecast, sun back tomorrow as well as thursday. a lot of clouds around, highs in the 50s. mostly sunny friday, saturday, and sunday. monday, maybe a shower in the mo rning. danella here with first 4 traffic. good morning. >> good morning. still checking on local roads and the damage caused by sandy. let's start in annandale. woodbridge road closed because

of high water problems there. also downed treeds eed trees aln drive. southbound 301 taking the ramp to pennsylvania avenue, you're going to see the right lanes blocked by debris on the ramp. crossing the wilson bridge, it's actually nice and clear. i'll give you a live look. no issues to report. and very light volume. if you have to head out of the house, taking the interstate looks really good. however, i want to warn you, i-95 in stafford had an earlier crash there. i'll give you an update in ten minutes. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. thousands of flights around the world as sandy's wrath expected to interrupt airports. although all flights were cancelled. making matters worse, not even any plans at the d.c. airports. they will need to be flown from elsewhere, which means it will be days before the airports are

up and running. 5:54. one of the problems along the jersey shore, water everywhere. the combination of storm surge and flooding everywhere. nbc's bryn gingras. >> reporter: we are trapped here. the water came flooding in. i'm sure a lot of you are seeing the same. we're doing the same in jersey in seaside heights. you can see by my boots how high the water is here in the lobby of the hotel. we're taking refuge on the second floor. the reason why is because the water seems to be creeping up. i want to open the door. bear with me.

there's a lot of water. this is what the front steps of the hotel look like. that is a parking sign right there and water continues to just gush through. shine a little bit of light. this is the entire look of what seaside heights looks right now. every street is flooded just like this. as i said, it's been like this ever since about 7:30 last night. >> that was bryn gingras reporting. she says her crew does have a generator running on the second floor. that is the only power supply to that area. wow. new overnight, a 42-year-old woman rescued from the atlantic ocean died after she and her crew mates were forced to abandon ship this morning. search crews are looking for the captain of that ship, the hms bounty. he vanished during the evacuation. take a look at this dramatic video. yesterday crews rescued 14 other crew members near north carolina's outer banks. the coast guard did. the captain called for help on sunday night when the ship lost power and was taking on the wa

e water. >> with storms like this, you can easily see how violent the ocean can become. if you don't prepare yourself properly and handle it the way you should, it could come back with drastic consequences. >> the crew was trying avoid sandy but got caught in that storm. the ship left connecticut thursday on its way to florida. >> you're seeing incredible video of the rescue efforts from flooding in seaside heights. incredible. the water was up to her boots. just a lot to deal with. >> points out how dangerous things still are, and water is still all around the east coast. you don't want to get out there if you can avoid it. more than a dozen homes engulfed in flames as we speak in queens, new york. ♪

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] combine the pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a qualifying pnc performance select checking account and earn 75% more than cards earning 1% cash back on almost everything.

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? earning 1% cash back or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.